ENL South Round-up week 30

LONDON, UK – It was an exciting week in the ENL South as eight teams looked forward to the play-offs, whilst two teams knew that one of them would be relegated by the end of it. Amongst all the action was a hair disaster and a moustache of note.
 
In Chelmsford, a post mortem on the Chieftains loss in the league title race to Romford was put on hold as the immediate chance of redemption i.e. the play-offs came to the forefront of the Essex club’s mind.

 
“It’s disappointing” said Chieftains’ Player Coach Gary Clarke in reference to the clubs failure to secure the league title.
 
“What’s most disappointing though is that it was totally out of our control”
 
“We knew though that we were the only team to have won at Romford’s rink this season so it was going to be pretty unlikely that they’d lose” continued the former MK and Guildford player in an interview with the Essex Chronicle.
 
“Really we’ve only got ourselves to blame though. We’ve lost some games this season that we shouldn’t have but we can’t do anything about that now -we move on.”
 
“Play-Off hockey is completely different and we’ll be looking to emulate last year,” he said. There’s still everything to play for and we’re looking to prove that we’ve got the mustard”
 
The beauty of the Play-Offs is the fresh start that everyone gets after a long regular season. It is a time of excitement and many players cannot contain themselves, not least Invicta Dynamos defenseman Ali Band who always surpasses himself with a Play-Off special.
 
This season it was a blue and red hairstyle in Dynamos colours but had he managed to get a tin of that solution used by the touring entertainment group Blue Man Group, Band would probably be blue all over.
 
Wightlink Raiders ramped up the support for their end of season shirt auction by publishing the bids submitted so far for their players game jerseys. Unsurprisingly star import Joe Rand’s home and away jerseys had already reached their target value of £100 and were sold, as was island legend Steve Gannaway’s number 3 jerseys and goalie Liam McAllister’s.
 
For the rest though, the scenario resembled that awful exposure kids get when they wait to be picked for the sports teams at school. That nervous feeling as the numbers gradually go down and your peers decide who is the most popular, and who will be left stood at the end with the awkward kid who does PE in his school trousers and vest.
 
Any fans who want to spare the Raiders players’ embarrassment can see the full list of available shirts on the Raiders Official website, and have until Tuesday 10^th April to submit bids.
 
Not a column to highlight anyone’s struggles usually, let’s just say that star forwards Alex Murray and Grant Rounding jerseys could be left in the Raiders store cupboard along with the remains of Jerry Pavlus’s stick if things don’t improve.
 
Another player desperately looking forward to the Play-Offs after a solid season was Bristol Player Coach Richie Hargreaves. Fresh from turning up to the Pitbulls end of season awards dressed in a traditional West Country hat, the Pitbulls supremo spoke of his anticipation for the upcoming two game quarter final against Wightlink Raiders.
 
“We’ve only lost a couple of times in our last 15 or so games so we’ve come strong at the right time. I know a lot of other teams were pleased to avoid us when the play-off ties were finalised” the former Basingstoke, London and Slough man explained in an interview with the Bristol Evening Telegraph’
 
“We’ve got a bus load of supporters coming along to get behind us on the Isle of Wight and I can’t see it being anything other than a very close game. That would set things up very nicely for the second leg in Bristol on Sunday night”
 
“We had close to a sell-out when we won National League Two a couple of years ago and the atmosphere was incredible. I thought the place was going to come down that day and we’d like to try and re-create that sort of excitement again on Sunday night”
 
“I can’t stress enough how crucial that support is for us as players and we’re all really up for it. What with the uncertainty over the closure of the ice rink we don’t know whether or not this might be our last game in the venue, so we’re going to make the most of it”
 
“I think fans will be in for a real treat as our clash is probably the most eye-catching of the four and I’m optimistic that we have what is required within our squad to get the right result”
 
Bristol had to do without New Zealand import Martin Lee who had flown out with his country to the Division 2 Group A World Championship tournament in Reykjavik, Iceland. Cardiff had the same issue with South African Cameron Birrell, who was enduring a tough campaign in Group B in Sofia, Bulgaria.
 
Birrell and his South African team lost every game in the competition with China, Israel, Bulgaria and Mexico all getting the better of the ‘Saffas’, who don’t have many ice rinks in their country.
 
There is a fantastic rink located within a casino in Cape Town but aside from that, the rinks in Johannesburg and Durban make Bristol look simply palatial.
 
Romford announced that they would be holding a league trophy presentation on the ice before the Play Off game against Milton Keynes Thunder on Sunday. Handing over the solid gold plated trophy was EIHA Director David Hurn, who has also appeared at the very first game for Streatham at the new Brixton rink.
 
It is good that the EIHA are getting out an about at the ENL games now and again. The governing body have had a busy year resolving issues and in general they have done a good job with their decisions. A big improvement on past seasons and Hurn and the often maligned “blazer boys” should get a pat on the back for their efforts.
 
Rumours that the winners of the ENL South Play-Offs would yet again not face their equivalents in the North at the end of the season gathered pace across the league.
 
It would be nice to hold a national final but also understandable why it hasn’t taken place in the past. As a Northerner I can understand the age old sentiment among many in the North that they would come down and smash the softy Southerners, but in my humble opinion times have changed.
 
The South is now at another level compared to the last few times the Play-Off winners met and I think Whitley, Billingham or Blackburn would get a shock against not just the top four in our league, but also the others.
 
For a full preview of the ENL South Play-Off Quarter final match ups you may wish to check out the article below:
http://www.prohockeynews.com/hockey/publish/hockeyuk/ENL_South_Play-Offs_preview_2011_12.shtml
 
 
Saturday
 
Chelmsford travelled to Bracknell knowing that they had won most of the previous encounters between the two clubs this season. In the end the first leg of this particular match up proved too close for comfort for Gary Clarke’s men as they were pushed hard all the way by a resilient Hornets side who had Lukas Smital on the bench marshalling the troops.
 
Chelmsford scorers in the 4-3 win were Alex Green, Gary Clarke, Ross Brears and Jakub Klima. Bracknell’s goals came from the returning Tom Carroll, Nick Minhinnick and Alan Lack.
 
Lack also dropped the gloves with Chieftains defenseman Danny Cox to provide another talking point.
 
The much anticipated clash in Cardiff between the resident ENL Devils and Invicta Dynamos took place with both sides seeking revenge on each other after a season of boisterous clashes.
 
Invicta finally managed to break their South Wales curse by walking out of the building with a 7-4 win. A hat trick from Callum Fowler alongside goals from Justin Noble, Andy Smith and Ryan Ellis did the job for the Mo’s, who controversially took advantage of an EIHA exemption to ice top goalie Joe White in place of regular starter Andy Moffatt who was suffering with chicken pox.
 
Jason Stone, Jordan Powell, James Preece and Louis Lockwood were on target for Cardiff.
 
With Milton Keynes and Romford contesting only one game in their Play Off, the final 1^st leg of the quarter finals took place on the island, where the Bristol Pitbulls travelled to try and overturn the Wightlink Raiders.
 
Despite taking an early 2-0 lead, Bristol could not hold on and lost 6-4 setting up a cracking return fixture in Bristol the following day.
 
Alex Murray, Steve Gosset, Joe Rand and Richard Facey all got goals for Wightlink, with Nick Eden and James Warman amongst the goals for Bristol.
 
So with all the excitement regarding the Play-Offs, Streatham and Slough were left to contest a late face off in Berkshire to decide who would be relegated from the league. I drove down from County Durham for this game, passing my old team Billingham on the M1, who were on the bus to Telford for the ENL North Play-Offs. I am not one to look back with envy, but I dont remember Billingham travelling in a bus with all the seats covered with cloth, back when I was there, they were more like public service buses in Sarajevo during the Balkans war. The guys looked very comfy with their pillows!
 
When we skated onto the ice most of the rink was pretty much empty apart from a sea of red and white by our team bench of Redskins fans. They were there in numbers and making plenty of noise, even in the warm up.
 
I have to say that my first thought was ‘if we let all these people down it will probably be the lowest point of my hockey life’. Thankfully we didn’t, although the final 11-2 score line hides the fact that it was a one goal game up until halfway through the second period.
 
I know many think the locker room is a sacred place where all stays between four walls, but before we went out for the third, Barry walked in, delivered the speech of his life and I don’t think I have seen a Redskins team go so ballistic before leaving the room.
There were water bottles flying around the room, people shouting and screaming and I would have run down the M4 to Heathrow in my skates, had anyone said that would help us win, such was the adrenaline flowing at the time.
 
Slough’s inexperience showed but I have to say they have some cracking young players who will have a bright future in the game given the right opportunities. They may have lost on the night but the likes of Carl Thompson, Jamie Milton and Mark Saunders can take credit for sticking with the team despite a tough schedule and ever changing circumstance. It isn’t easy playing at the bottom of the league and youngsters like Andrew Melachrino and Stuart Mogg amongst others will learn a lot from this experience.
 
Tomas Valko hit a hat trick for the Redskins and played as well as he ever has for the team, the ever willing Russ Stevens got a brace and there were single goals for Adam Mahoney, Stevie Balmer, Jerry Pavlus, Warren Rost, Liam Rasmussen and the excellent Norm Pinnington. For Slough it was Mogg and Melachrino who got the goals.
 
The result secured another season in ENL 1 for Streatham and whatever happens in the summer, it has been a sad yet uplifting season for all of us in South London.
 
 
Sunday
 
Romford took on Milton Keynes in a winner takes all clash at Rom Valley Way. Romford started this game as red hot favourites and after Anthony Leone lifted the league trophy; his team mates took over with a convincing 7-2 win.
 
Tommy Mboya got both goals for MK, with Danny Marshall and Adam Smith both getting a brace each for Romford. Other scorers for the Raiders were Juraj Huska, Tom Davis and Matt Turner.
 
The most exciting game of the evening took place in Frogmore Street, Bristol. The Pitbulls were playing possibly their last ever competitive game at their under threat home and were determined to extend their season.
 
In front of a decent crowd the fairy-tale was not to be for Hargreaves and his men as Wightlink edged a very close game 8-6 on the night and went through to the semi-final.
 
It started so well for Bristol as two early goals drew them level on aggregate but a second period comeback from the visitors and then a rampant third period sealed the win.
 
A hat trick from Grant Rounding did the damage for Wightlink with two goals from Joe Rand and efforts from Dom Hopkins and Richard Facey finishing things off.
 
A brace from Steven Fisher and goals from Sam Feeney, Jamie Newton and Steve Osman accounted for the Bristol goals with an emotional Hargreaves bagging the last Bristol goal of the night and possibly the last at the old rink.
 
Everyone hopes that Bristol can resolve their rink issues and we all see the Pitbulls back in the league next season.
 
Chelmsford were rather more ruthless in the second leg of their clash with Bracknell posting a 6-1 win over the Hornets. Gary Clarke’s men advanced to the semi-final thanks to a brace from Jakub Klima and goals from Alan Green, Danny Hammond, Clarke himself and James Ayling (with a penalty shot). Danny Hughes got the goal for Bracknell to end a decent season for the rookie Player Coach.
 
After losing on home ice the night before, Cardiff travelled to Invicta knowing that the odds were not stacked in their favour. They certainly would not have anticipated the storm that was headed their way however as they were well and truly spanked by the rampant Mo’s and travelled back to Wales licking their wounds after a 17-9 loss.
 
It was a score line that many Dynamos fans will relate with the days when the Medway Bears patrolled the Kent Riviera back in the Heineken league, but young Harrison Lillis who hit a hat trick on the night for the Mo’s is probably too young to remember those times.
 
The game also left Dynamos all-time top scorer Andy Smith perched on 399 career goals for the club. What price on him hitting his 400^th before the end of the season?
 
The Play-Off semi-finals match up Invicta with Romford and Chelmsford against Wightlink. Both games could go either way so it looks like we could all have an exciting end to a roller coaster season.
 
Keep an eye on Pro Hockey News this week as we preview the semi-final line ups and more intriguingly we will reveal this year’s All-Star line ups as voted for by those within the league.
 
 
Results
 
Saturday 7^th April 2012
 
Slough ENL Jets 2 Streatham Redskins 11 (Slough relegated)
Cardiff Devils 4 Invicta Dynamos 7
Wightlink Raiders 6 Bristol Pitbulls 4
Bracknell Hornets 3 Chelmsford Chieftains 4
 
Sunday 8^th April 2012
 
Romford Raiders 7 Milton Keynes Thunder 2
Bristol Pitbulls 6 Wightlink Raiders 8
Chelmsford Chieftains 6 Bracknell Hornets 1
Invicta Dynamos 17 Cardiff Devils 9
 
 
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com
With thanks to Stevie’s Nan.